OCU blesses "hierarchs and clergy" to become deputies
The OCU gave explanations on the participation of the clergy in local self-government bodies and clarified who should be commemorated on St. Demetrius Memorial Saturday.
The OCU blessed its "bishops and clergy" to become deputies of local councils, and also approved the commemoration of "all in Ukraine starved to death, killed during the Revolution of Dignity and perished as a result of the aggression of the Russian Federation in Eastern Ukraine". The "Holy Synod" of the OCU made the corresponding decision at a regular meeting on August 21, 2020, reports pomisna.info.
Thus, according to journal No. 26, “taking into account the previous generally positive experience of the participation of bishops and clergy in the work of local councils”, OCU clerics can run for deputies “if there is special pastoral expediency and at the insistence of the local territorial community”.
In addition, the "Synod" clarified the grounds for the commemoration on St. Demetrius Memorial Saturday.
Emphasizing that the "memorial service" performed on this day by the OCU is not connected with the event on the Kulikovo battlefield, as in the "liturgical tradition of Russian Orthodoxy", the "Synod" decided as the basis for St. Demetrius Memorial Saturday "the commemoration of all those who were starved to death in Ukraine, killed during the Revolution of Dignity and perished as a result of the aggression of the Russian Federation in Eastern Ukraine".
As reported, the UOC-KP said that before the presidential elections in Ukraine, the head of the OCU Epiphany forced his clergy to political agitation in the parishes.
